System and method for image generation based on a display-attachable wearable device

ABSTRACT

According to one embodiment, a system includes a wearable device configured to be attached to a display configured to display a display image. The wearable device features an optical component set featuring a lens, a first user operable member configured to set an adjustment value relating to a projection angle of the visual image, and a second user operable member configured to set an adjustment value relating to at least one of a color tone or a brightness of the visual image. A position of the visual image is changed by adjusting the projection angle of the visual image using the first user operable member so that the visual image is displayed at a position based on at least one of a shape or a size of the head of the user. The color tone or the brightness of the visual image is changed using the second user operable member.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/685,766, filed Aug. 24, 2017, which is a divisional of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/979,169, filed Dec. 22, 2015, which claims thebenefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-171933,filed Sep. 1, 2015, the entire contents of all of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to a system and a methodusing an eyeglasses-type wearable device.

BACKGROUND

In manufacturing sites or manufacturing plants in which a large numberof manufacturing apparatuses are operated, the operation rates of themanufacturing apparatuses have a great impact on production volumes. Ina case where a usually-avoidable problem resulting from neglect ofregular maintenance and checkups or an unexpected problem has occurredin a manufacturing apparatus but the problem has not been handledefficiently, the manufacturing apparatus cannot be operated for a longtime, which leads to decreases in the operation rate and the productionvolume. Therefore, it is desired that the operation suspension time of amanufacturing apparatus is reduced as much as possible. In performingmaintenance, checkups and repairs, since the maintenance, checkups andrepairs vary from manufacturing apparatus to manufacturing apparatus,there are some cases where an operator refers to an instruction manualor a checklist (hereinafter referred to as a checklist) showing aworkflow of each work step.

Recently, wearable devices have been actively introduced intomanufacturing sites. In such a manufacturing site, for example,operators wear eyeglasses-type wearable devices and refer to checklistsdisplayed on the lens surfaces. In this way, the operators no longerneed to refer to paper checklists while working on apparatuses, andconsequently the operators can have their work done efficiently even inthe case of unfamiliar and complicated work without interruption of thework.

However, the operators still need to check against checklists to ensurecompletion of their work at each work step. Therefore, paper checklistare still prepared even although the operators electronically refer tochecklists on the screens while working on the apparatuses, and theoperators stop their work to fill in the paper checklists at the end ofeach work step. Since the operations of manufacturing apparatuses arekept stopped during that time, the production volumes decrease. Further,after returning their office, the operators write reports on their workbased on the checklists. It is quite cumbersome for the operators towrite such reports on their work.

There is a system for supporting an operator by using a head-mounteddisplay with a built-in camera. As an example of the system, there is amedical-equipment management system which supports an operator of amedical device such as a used and contaminated endoscope or a piece ofmedical equipment such as a scalpel or forceps.

The system includes a head-mounted camera for capturing an image of thesight of an operator of a medical device or a piece of medicalequipment; storage means for storing an image of the sight of anoperator captured when the operator demonstrates the medical device orthe medical equipment as a reference image; first determination meansfor comparing the image captured by the camera and the reference imageread from the storage means in order to determine whether apredetermined operation is performed normally based on similaritybetween these two images; data output means for outputting dataindicating an alarm or an instruction based on a determination result ofthe determination means; and output means for outputting the alarm orthe instruction to the operator based on the data indicating the alarmor the instruction.

The system automatically recognizes the operation of the medicalequipment operator by comparing the operation of the operator capturedby the camera with the reference image prepared in advance. However, inthis method, since the recognition accuracy of simple pattern matchbetween images is low, complicated image processing such as featureextraction from the images is further required. Consequently, as theautomatic recognition processing becomes highly complicated, aconsiderable amount of time will be required for the image processing.

The present embodiment aims to provide a system and a method forrecognizing movements of a user of a wearable device quickly, simply andaccurately and displaying content to support the user based on arecognition result.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A general architecture that implements the various features of theembodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings. Thedrawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate theembodiments and not to limit the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram showing an example of a wearable deviceof an embodiment.

FIG. 2A shows a front view of an example of the wearable device.

FIG. 2B shows a cross-section structure of an example of the wearabledevice.

FIG. 3 shows an example of position detection of the wearable device.

FIG. 4 exemplarily shows the principle of the position detection of thewearable device.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C show an example of operation periods of thewearable devices.

FIGS. 5D, 5E, 5F, and 5G show an example of communication periods of thephoto detectors.

FIGS. 5H, 5I, 5J, and 5K show an example of signal waveforms of thephoto detectors.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a system including the wearable device and adata management server.

FIG. 7 exemplarily shows an electrical configuration of the wearabledevice.

FIG. 8A shows an example of detection of the state of an apparatus.

FIG. 8B shows an example of a sensor for detecting the state of anapparatus.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a sensor for detecting movements of a user.

FIGS. 10A and 10B show an example of a usage environment of the system.

FIG. 11 is an exploded view showing an example of the structure of thesensor used in the system and for detecting movements of a user.

FIG. 12 is an exploded view showing another example of the structure ofthe sensor used in the system and for detecting movements of a user.

FIG. 13A shows an example of a workflow displayed by the system.

FIG. 13B shows an example of a work record made by the system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments will be described hereinafter with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

In general, according to one embodiment, a system includes a wearabledevice on a head of a user and including a display in a line of visionof the user, a first detector configured to detect a movement of theuser, a second detector configured to detect a state of an apparatusoperated by the user, and a server connected to the wearable device, thefirst detector and the second detector. The server is configured todisplay information about work contents of the user on the display basedon a detection result of the first detector and a detection result ofthe second detector.

Wearable devices include head-mounted type wearable devices (such aseyeglasses, goggles and helmet types which may also be called aneyeglasses type collectively), wristband-type wearable devices,pendant-type wearable devices and the like. The following description isbased on the assumption that the wearable device of the presentembodiment is an eyeglasses-type wearable device. Eyeglasses-typewearable devices include optical head-mounted displays, which allow theuser to see through their transparent lenses, and non-opticalhead-mounted displays, which block the view of the user and do not allowthe user to see through them. In the following, optical head-mounteddisplays, which allow the user to see through them, will be taken as anexample.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an eyeglasses-type wearable device(hereinafter referred to simply as a wearable device) 10, and FIG. 2A isa front view and FIG. 2B is a diagram showing a cross-section structureviewed from above.

The wearable device 10 has a shape substantially the same as that of anordinary pair of glasses, but here a projector 12 is attached to theoutside of the right-eye temple. Glasses 14 and 16 are set in the frame.The left-eye glass 14 is a normal transparent glass so that the user cansee through the glass. The right-eye glass 16 is at least partly ascreen 16. The screen 16 is configured to show an image projected by theprojector 12 to the user. When the projector 12 is not projecting animage, the screen 16 is transparent and allows the user to see throughthe right-eye glass (screen) 16.

The projector 12 includes a power supply 22 and a controller 24 aselectronic components. The power supply 22 includes a button battery, arechargeable battery, a non-contact power supply secondary battery andthe like. Alternatively, the projector 12 may not include a built-inbattery but may be supplied with power from an external power supply viaa power-supply line or a wireless channel. The controller 24 isconfigured to perform a communication with a server or anotherelectronic device via a network which will be described later andthereby transmit and receive data. This communication may be a wiredcommunication or may be a wireless communication. In the case ofperforming a wireless communication, Bluetooth (registered trademark),ZigBee (registered trademark), a short-range wireless communication suchas UWB, a medium-range wireless communication such as WiFi (registeredtrademark) or a long-range wireless communication such as 3G/4G or WiMAX(registered trademark) may be used according to the usage environment.

The projector 12 further includes a light source 28, a display 30, aprism 32, a set of lenses 34 and the like as optical components. Thelight source 28 may be a dimming white LED light source having several,for example, three light emitting diodes having luminescent colorsdifferent from each other and amounts of output light respectivelyvariable. According to the dimming white LED light source, even if thewearable device 10 is used in such an environment as a clean room usinglight having a luminescent color consisting principally of orange, aclear projection image can be obtained by changing the luminescent colorof the LED light source based on the usage environment. Further,according to the dimming white LED light source, it is possible tooutput a display color easy for the user to see, and thus as compared tothe case of outputting a display color difficult for the user to see,the causes of troubles to the user such as eye strain and migraineassociated with eye strain can be prevented.

The display 30 is, for example, a reflective liquid crystal display(LCD) module and configured to display a predetermined text, image andthe like (hereinafter referred to also as a display image collectively)based on display control executed by the controller 24. Non-parallellight (hereinafter referred to also as diverging light) output from thelight source 28 is reflected on a half mirror surface 32 a of the prism32, and thereby illuminates a display image of the display 30. Thereflected light of the display 30 is, after passing through the halfmirror surface 32 a as light indicative of the display image(hereinafter referred to also as image light), output from the outgoingsurface 32 c and then projected on the screen 16 as a projection imagein a predetermined size via the set of lenses 34.

The screen 16 includes a near-side transparent refractor 42, aFresnel-lens-type half mirror surface 44 and a back-side transparentrefractor 46. The image light reaching the half mirror surface 44 ispartly reflected on the half mirror surface 44 and forms a visual image(projection image) indicative of the display image of the display 30 ata few meters away. Note that, since the screen 16 allows the user topartly see through the screen 16, it is also possible to configure thescreen 16 to show the projection image as well as the view in front ofthe user.

A part of the image light (diverging light) output from the light source28 and passing thorough the half mirror surface 32 a is totallyreflected on the total-reflection surface 32 b and becomes leaking light50 of the diverging light from the light source 28 refracted in theoutgoing surface 32 c. The leaking light 50 is output in a directiondifferent from the direction of the screen 16 through an opening or agap (leading portion) 52 formed on the front side of the projector 12.

The wearable device 10 includes a speaker 54A, an earphone jack 54B, amicrophone jack 56, a sliding switch 57, a rotating switch 58 and thelike in a predetermined portion, for example, in a bottom portion of theprojector 12. The microphone jack 56 is connected to a hands freemicrophone (not shown in the drawing) and collects the user's voice. Thesliding switch 57 is configured, for example, to adjust the brightness,color tone and the like of the projection image of the projector 12. Therotating switch 58 is configured, for example, to adjust the projectionangle and the like of the projection image. With such a configuration asto set different adjustment values by different operations such as byoperating the sliding switch 57 and the rotating switch 58, the user canadjust the projection image by performing touch operations while lookingat the projection image. For example, by operating the sliding switch57, it is possible to provide the projection image having the displaybrightness and color tone of the user's taste. By operating the rotationswitch 58, it is possible to adjust the projection angle so that theprojection image is displayed in the most appropriate position based onthe shape or size of the user's head. Note that the objects to beadjusted by the sliding switch 57 and the rotating switch 58 may beopposite to each other, the positions of the sliding switch 57 and therotating switch 58 may be opposite to each other, or their functions maybe assigned to a single operation member configured to perform two kindsof operations.

Although it is possible to perform adjustment using these switches 57and 58 in a trial-and-error process while looking at the projectionimage, to improve the efficiency of adjustment, it is also possible toperform adjustment by projecting a menu image and selecting an item onthe screen. When the display 30 displays a menu image, the menu image isprojected on the screen 16.

Further, a menu item may not be selected by an operation on the switch57 or 58 but may be selected by a touch operation. Therefore, a touchpad55 is further provided on the outside of the projector 12. When a menuor the like is displayed by the display 30, the user can input anoperation easily and efficiently by touching a position of the touchpad55 corresponding to the display position of an item in the menu.

A camera 59 is provided in the center front on the outside andconfigured to capture an image of the front view (still image and movingimage). Note that, although not shown in the drawing, it is possible toprovide another camera in the center front on the inner side to face theuser and configure to capture the eyeballs of the user to detect theirises of the user. The irises can be used for user authentication.

By using the leaking light 50 from the wearable device 10, the state ofthe wearable device 10, that is, the state of the user can be detected.With reference to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5A-5K, the principle of detecting thestate of the wearable device will be described. Here, the state includesa position, a shift of the position and the like.

An example of the use of the wearable device is shown in FIG. 3. Forexample, in a work area 60 of, for example, a component yard of a plant,a product warehouse of a mail-order firm or a delivery department of aretailer, a given number of work spaces or product shelves A01 to Axy (xand y are both positive integers), B01 to Bxy and C01 to Cxy arearranged. The work spaces or the product shelves may be, for example,work tables in a plant, manufacturing apparatuses in a production line,desks at school, seating positions in a conference room, and the like.

In the work area 60, at least one photo detector 62-1 to 62-n (n is apositive integer) is installed. The at least one photo detector 62-1 to62-n is configured to detect the positions (x, y, z), the numbers, theshifts of the positions, the changes of the directions and the like ofthe wearable devices 10-1 to 10-m (m is a positive integer) respectivelyby a detection method shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A-5K. By detecting thepositions, the numbers, the shifts of the positions, the changes of thedirections and the like of the wearable devices 10-1 to 10-m, the statessuch as the positions and the shifts of the positions of a given numberof the users of the wearable devices 10-1 to 10-m can be recognized.

The users can move around the work area 60 freely. The users performpredetermined work in predetermined positions, namely, work spaces 64such as stations (carts), or containers or movable tables equivalentthereto. Note that the work space 64 is not necessarily movable but maybe a fixed desk, a seating position or the like.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a detection system includes at least onewearable device 10 and at least one photo detector 62. The photodetector 62 has a function of detecting the leaking light 50 and afunction of performing communication to transmit a detection result to aserver or the like. The communication function may be a wiredcommunication function or may be a wireless communication function as inthe case of the communication function of the wearable device 10. In thecase of a wireless communication, Bluetooth (registered trademark),ZigBee (registered trademark), a short-range wireless communication suchas UWB, a medium-range wireless communication such as WiFi (registeredtrademark) or a long-range wireless communication such as 3G/4G or WiMAX(registered trademark) may be used according to the usage environment.In the present embodiment, various units and modules havingcommunication functions will be described below, and these communicationfunctions may be wired communication functions or may be wirelesscommunication functions similarly. In the case of a wirelesscommunication, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee (registeredtrademark), a short-range wireless communication such as UWB, amedium-range wireless communication such as WiFi (registered trademark)or a long-range wireless communication such as 3G/4G or WiMAX(registered trademark) may be used according to the usage environment.

The wearable device 10 intermittently modulates the leaking light 50 byusing data including identification data of the device (hereinafterreferred to also as a device ID) so that the photo detector 62 canidentify the wearable device 10 based on the received leaking light 50.Although a typical example of the modulation method is a choppermodulation method of decreasing an amount of luminescence to zero, thefollowing description is based on the assumption that the wearabledevice 10 adopts a modulation method of ensuring a predetermined or moreamount of luminescence even in the case of light having a small amountof luminescence. In this way, the strain on the user's eyes can bereduced. In the case of adopting a digital sum value (DSV) freemodulation method (that is, a method of calculating the DSV of amodulation signal constantly, inserting an appropriate bit inversioncode and setting a direct-current component to zero) as a modulationmethod, it is possible to prevent a change in the amount of luminescenceover a relatively long range and thereby keep a change in the amount ofluminescence macroscopically zero, and thus the strain on the user'seyes can be further reduced. Since the human eyes can perceive a changeup to about 0.02 second, it is possible to achieve the effect ofreducing the strain of the user's eyes by setting the referencefrequency of the above-described modulation to, for example, greaterthan or equal to 20 Hz, more preferable, greater than or equal to 60 Hz.On the other hand, since the LED used for the light source 28 has aninternal impedance and a connecting capacity, the frequency of less than100 MHz, more preferably, less than or equal to 10 MHz is desirable forperforming highly-accurate modulation. From the above, it is desirablethat the modulation frequency of the light source 28 used in thedetection system of the present embodiment be 10 Hz to 100 MHz, morepreferable, 10 Hz to 10 MHz.

Since the leaking light 50 of the diverging light from the light source28 is used, the amount of light detected by the photo detector 62 variesdepending on the distance between the wearable device 10 and the photodetector 62. By using this phenomenon, the distance between the wearabledevice 10 and the photo detector 62 or the direction of the wearabledevice 10 with respect to the photo detector 62 can be obtained. Sincethe position (including the level) of the photo detector 62 is fixed, asthe distance between the photo detector 62 and the wearable device 10 isobtained, the position of the wearable device 10 (x, y, z) can bedetected accordingly.

Further, by using the leaking light 50 of the diverging light from thelight source 28, detection of the leaking light 50 can be performed in arelatively wide area. As a result, by installing only a relatively smallnumber of the photo detectors 62-1 to 62-n, the positions of thewearable devices 10-1 to 10-m in the work area 60, the distances betweenthe wearable devices 10 and the photo detectors 62, the directions ofthe wearable devices 10, or the directions of the wearable devices 10with respect to the photo detectors 62 can be detected. Consequently,the installation cost required for installing the detection system canbe reduced.

The data of amounts of the leaking light 50 detected by the photodetectors 62 is transmitted from the photo detectors 62 to a serverwhich will be described later at a predetermined time. The serveranalyzes the data collected from the photo detectors 62. In this way,the positions and the states of the desired wearable devices 10-1 to10-m, more specifically, the states of the users can be detected.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a specific example of the use ofthe system for recognizing the wearable device of the embodiment. Thefollowing description is based on the assumption that there are threeusers wearing wearable devices 10-1 to 10-3 around four photo detectors62-1 to 62-4. The leaking light 50 from the wearable devices 10-1 and10-2 is detected by the photo detectors 62-1 to 60-4. The photodetectors 62-1 to 62-4 perform analog-to-digital conversion of theamounts of the leaking light 50 detected respectively and transmit themto a server as light amount data indicative of the amounts of light at apredetermined time, for example, by a short-range wirelesscommunication.

The following description is based on the assumption that the positionof the wearable device 10-1 is shifted toward the photo detector 62-1 asthe user moves toward the photo detector 62-1 and meanwhile thedirection of the wearable device 10-2 is temporarily changed as the usermakes a given movement such as turning of the head (rotating of thehead). The changes in the detection data occurring at this time is shownin FIGS. 5A-5K.

FIGS. 5A-5K illustrate the case of using an intermittent time-shiftmethod as a modulation method of the leaking light 50 of the wearabledevices 10-1 to 10-3. That is, ID modulation times are set respectivelyto the wearable devices 10-1 to 10-3 in a staggered manner.

As shown in FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C, intermittent ID modulation times areset respectively to the first to third wearable devices 10-1 to 10-3,and the other times are set as non-modulation times. In each IDmodulation time, a synchronization signal SYNC is paired with each ofthe device IDs of the wearable devices 10-1 to 10-3 (on a one-to-onebasis), and the pairs are repeated for several times (multiples of fourtimes in the case where there are four sensors as shown in FIGS. 5D-5G).

As the non-modulation time of the first wearable device 10-1 starts, theID modulation time of the second wearable device 10-2 starts. Similarly,as the non-modulation time of the second wearable device 10-2 starts,the ID modulation time of the third wearable device 10-3 starts.

In the ID modulation time of the second wearable device 10-2 and the IDmodulation time of the third wearable device 10-3, the synchronizationsignal SYNC and the device ID of the wearable device 10-2 or 10-3 arerepeatedly modulated. By superimposing the device ID of the wearabledevice 10 on a modulation signal in this way, the device ID can bedetected.

In the above-described case, the modulation times of the respectivewearable devices 10-1 to 10-3 are set on a time-division basis (on anintermittent basis). However, for example, it is also possible toperform modulation successively for all the wearable devices 10-1 to10-3 and change the modulation reference frequencies of the wearabledevices 10-1 to 10-3 respectively. Further, it is also possible tochange the characteristics of the frequency spectrums in spreadspectrum, respectively.

As shown in FIGS. 5D-5G, each ID modulation time is divided intosections of the data communication times (COMs) with the photo detectors62-1 to 62-4.

As shown in FIG. 4, a part of the leaking light from the wearable device10-1 reaches the photo detector 62-4 at the beginning. Therefore, asshown in FIG. 5K, the photo detector 62-4 detects the leaking light fromthe wearable device 10-1 at the beginning. However, as the position ofthe wearable device 10-1 is shifted toward the photo detector 62-1, themodulation signal amplitude of the leaking light from the wearabledevice 10-1 detected by the photo detector 62-4 decreases. On the otherhand, as shown in FIG. 5H, the modulation signal amplitude of theleaking light from the wearable device 10-1 detected by the photodetector 62-1 increases as time advances. By comparing the changes ofthe modulation signal amplitudes detected by the photo detectors 62-1 to62-n with time, the changes (shifts) of the positions of the detectiontargets, namely, the wearable devices 10-1 to 10-m with time can bedetected.

Meanwhile, the wearable device 10-2 is directed to the photo detector62-3 at the beginning, and thus with regard to the modulation signalamplitude of the leaking light, the detection value of the photodetector 62-3 is greater than the detection value of the photo detector62-2. Here, suppose that the second user then turns the head and thewearable device 10-2 is temporarily directed to the photo detector 62-2.In this case, the detection output of the wearable device 10-2 outputfrom the photo detector 62-2 temporarily increases and then decreases asshown in FIG. 5I. On the other hand, the detection output of thewearable device 10-2 output from the photo detector 62-3 temporarilydecreases and then increases as shown in FIG. 5J.

In this way, by comparing changes in the modulation signal amplitudesdetected by the photo detectors 62 with time, changes in the directionsof the detection targets, namely, the wearable devices 10-1 to 10-m canbe detected.

In the above-described detection, such movements of the user as movingfrom one place to another or turning the head are used. However, theabove-described case is in no way restrictive, and various othermovements of the user may also be used for detection. For example, asthe user makes such movements as moving his or her hands or twisting theupper part of the body, the leaking light may be blocked temporarily. Inthat case, all the modulation signal amplitudes of the photo detectors62-1 to 62-4 temporarily decrease in the same period of time. In thisway, by comparing the relationships among changes in the modulationsignal amplitudes of all the photo detectors 62-1 to 62-4, variousmovement patterns of the user can be identified.

According to the above-described method, not only the movements of theuser but also the will of the user can be recognized.

Note that, as a method of detecting the position (x, y, z) of thewearable device 10, it is also possible to use a beacon. In theabove-described case, the position or state of the wearable device 10 isdetected by executing comparative processing of device identificationdata output from a number of wearable devices 10 as modulated light andreceived by a number of photo detectors 62. However, by installing anumber of position data transmitters in the work area 60 andtransmitting beacons according to the installation positions from thetransmitters by, for example, a short-range wireless communication witha communication range of a few meters such as RF-ID, it is also possibleto detect the wearable device 10 which receives a beacon to be in aposition substantially the same as the position of the transmitterhaving transmitted that beacon. Further, it is also possible to detectthe position of a wearable device by using the GPS. The positiondetection is not necessarily based on a single method but may be basedon a plurality of methods to improve detection accuracy.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the whole system using thewearable device. Here, a case where the system is applied to amanufacturing site of a manufacturing plant will be described. Aplurality of wearable devices 10, a plurality of photo detectors 62 ofFIG. 3, at least one supervisor's device 104, a plurality ofmanufacturing apparatuses 106, at least one camera 114, a datamanagement server 116 are connected to a network 102. The network 102may be provided, for example, on a plant building, a department, a flooror a business office basis, or may be a network installed in each plant,each building or each company or the Internet. In a case where there isa plurality of manufacturing sites in a single plant, the network of amanufacturing site of FIG. 6 may constitute a LAN, and a plurality ofLANs may be connected to the network of the whole plant. The network 102may be a wireless network or may be a wired network.

There are a number of operators in a manufacturing site, but not all theoperators wear the wearable devices 10. Therefore, the wearable devices10 may not be prepared for all the operators, but only a predeterminednumber of wearable devices 10 may be prepared and the operators wearavailable shared wearable devices when needed. The system needs toidentify the user if the user puts on the wearable device. This isbecause the system displays, for the user working on a specificmanufacturing apparatus, the workflow of the manufacturing apparatus ormakes a report on the work based on the user's movements. There arevarious methods of identifying the user, but the user may input theuser's ID and the device ID from a device not shown in the drawing whenthe user puts on the wearable device 10. The input operation is notnecessarily a key input but may be an audio input from a microphone or ascan input using a bar code. Further, since it is likely that the userhas his or her own unique way of putting the device on, it is possibleto detect the user by detecting the user's movements made at this time.The feature quantities indicating the user's movements can be obtainedfrom acceleration or angular velocity of the wearable device 10,movements of the face, hands or fingers of the user, or environmentalsounds collected by a microphone. For example, it is possible torecognize the state of the wearable device based on friction soundsbetween the temple and the skin or the hairs produced when the user putson or takes off the wearable device 10.

There is at least one supervisor for the operators in the manufacturingsite, and the supervisor uses the supervisor's device 104. Since thesupervisor does not need to move around, the supervisor's device 104 mayhave a structure the same as that of the wearable device 10 or may havea structure the same as that of an ordinary personal computer or anordinary tablet computer, and description of the supervisor's device 104will be omitted.

To each manufacturing apparatus 106, an apparatus state sensor 108 and auser movement sensor 110 are attached. These sensors 108 and 110 havecommunication functions and are connected to the network 102.

The camera 114 constantly captures moving images of the users in themanufacturing site. By analyzing the images, the movements of the userscan be detected. For example, the user of the wearable device 10 can beidentified by storing reference images for the respective users inadvance and comparing an image of the user putting the wearable device10 on or an image of the user taking the wearable device 10 off with thereference images. When it is difficult to install an enough number ofcameras to cover the whole manufacturing site at a time, a few number ofcameras 114 each having a variable angle of view and configured tocapture an image of the users in a wider area may be installed instead.

The data management server 116 includes a controller 118, acommunication unit 120, a position management unit 122, a user movementmanagement unit 124, an apparatus state management unit 126 and thelike. The communication functions of the sensors 108 and 110, thecommunication function of the supervisor's device 104, the communicationfunction of the camera 114 and the communication function of thecommunication unit 120 may be wired communication functions or may bewireless communication functions as in the case of the communicationfunction of the wearable device 10. In the case of a wirelesscommunication, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee (registeredtrademark), a short-range wireless communication such as UWB, amedium-range wireless communication such as WiFi (registered trademark)or a long-range wireless communication such as 3G/4G or WiMAX(registered trademark) may be used according to the usage environment.

The position management unit 122 is configured to collect data of thepositions of the wearable device 10 and the supervisor's device 104based on the outputs of the photo detector 62 and various sensors of thewearable device 10 and the supervisor's device 104 at regular intervals.Further, the position management unit 122 is configured to identify theuser of the wearable device 10 or the supervisor's device 104, andmanage the device ID, the user ID and the position of the wearabledevice 10 or the management device 104.

The user movement management unit 124 is configured to collect data ofthe movements and state of the user of the wearable device 10 based onthe outputs of the photo detectors 62, various sensors of the wearabledevices 10, and the user movement sensor 110 of the manufacturingapparatus 106 and manage the device ID, the user ID, and the movementsand state of the wearable device 10. The apparatus state management unit126 is configured to collect data of the state of the manufacturingapparatus based on the output of the apparatus state sensor 108 of themanufacturing apparatus 106 at regular intervals and manage the data.Note that it is possible to configure the apparatus state sensor 108 tonotify, if there is a change in the state of the apparatus, the changeto the apparatus state management unit 126 and collect data of the stateof the manufacturing apparatus.

The data management server 116 is configured to notify, if the apparatusstate management unit 126 detects that a manufacturing apparatus has aproblem, data of the position having the problem and state of themanufacturing apparatus to the management device 104. At the same time,the states of the operators are determined, and candidate operators whocan deal with the apparatus having a problem most efficiently areextracted and presented to the supervisor's device 104.

The present embodiment relates generally to a technique of automaticallymaking a work checklist and presenting it to the user and ofautomatically checking off a corresponding item in the checklist as theuser completes each work step. Therefore, the data management server 116integrates the data obtained from the plurality of sensors 108 and 110connected to the network 102 or various sensors of the devices 10 and104 and performs a computation to automatically detect and recognize themovements of each operator. The data management server 116 makes aworkflow (checklist) based on the result and supports an automatic input(automatic entry) to a corresponding portion in the checklist. The datamanagement server 116 automatically makes a work report when completingan automatic input (automatic entry) to the last item in the workchecklist.

The contents of the above-described work checklist vary depending on themanufacturing apparatus subjected to maintenance. Further, the contentsof the above-described work checklist also vary depending on the portionin a manufacturing apparatus having a problem. Therefore, the datamanagement server 116 collects data related to the manufacturingapparatus requiring maintenance from the manufacturing state sensor 108,and automatically detects and recognizes the portion in themanufacturing apparatus having a problem. The data management server 116then automatically identifies the wearable device 10 of an operator whois to perform maintenance and displays the contents of the maintenanceon the device 10 in a work checklist form.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the electrical configurationof the wearable device 10. The wearable device 10 includes a CPU 140, asystem controller 142, a main memory 144, a storage device 146, amicrophone 148, the speaker 54, a projection processor 150 (configuredto control the light source 28 and the display 30), the camera 59, awireless communication device 152, a motion sensor 154, a sight line(line of vision) detector 156, a gesture sensor 158, the touchpad 55, avibrator 68, a position data receiver 159, a GPS unit 155 and the like.

The CPU 140 is a processor configured to control various modules in thewearable device 10 and execute computer programs loaded from the storagedevice 146 including a nonvolatile semiconductor memory such as an SSDor a flash array to the main memory 144. The programs include anoperating system (OS) and various application programs. The CPU 140executes, for example, the following processing by executing theapplication programs and performing communication with the datamanagement server 116 via the network 102 using the wirelesscommunication device 152. For example, the CPU 140 executes variouskinds of control such as control to input a voice by the microphone 148and transmit the audio data to the data management server 116, controlto capture an image by the camera 59 and transmit the image data to thedata management server 116, control to transmit input data from themotion sensor 154, the sight line detector 156, the gesture sensor 158,the touchpad 55 or the position data receiver 159 to the data managementserver 116, control to play a sound by the speaker 54 or stereoearphones (not shown) connected to the earphone jack 54B, and control tovibrate the vibrator 68. Although the description is based on theassumption that the speaker 54 is a monaural speaker, it is possible tofurther provide a speaker (not shown in the FIGS. 1 and 2) in theleft-eye temple when a stereo speaker is required.

The system controller 142 is a device configured to connect the localbus of the CPU 140 and various components. The microphone 148 isconnected to the microphone jack 56 and configured to collect user'svoices or environmental sounds. By recognizing user's voices oranalyzing environmental sounds, it is possible to detect movements ofthe user and thereby identify the user. For example, by storingreference voices of respective users in advance and comparing the voiceof the wearer with the reference voices, the wearer can be identified.Further, the work area the wearer is in can be identified by analyzingenvironmental sounds. The speaker 54 is configured to output an alarm orthe like to attract the user's attention. The projection processor 150is configured to output an image signal to the display 30 and project animage of the display 30 on the screen 16 by lighting the light source28. The image includes not only a still image but also a moving image.The wireless communication device 152 includes, for example, a wirelessLAN function and wirelessly connects the wearable device 10 and anaccess point 112.

The motion sensor 154 is a sensor including a three-axis accelerationsensor, a three-axis gyroscope sensor and a three-axis geomagneticsensor integrated with each other and is configured to detect movementsof the head of the user of the wearable device 10 and determine thedirection of the user's head base on the detection result. Note that thestate of the operator may also be detected by the microphone 148, abarometer or the like. The state of the operator includes work content,work progress and the like in addition to a walking state and a restingstate. By using movements detected by the motion sensor 154, abarometric altitude or the like, it is determined whether the featurequantities obtained from the detection result correspond to the featurequantities of each work step obtained from an operator or the likebeforehand, and it is thereby determined which step in a plurality ofwork steps the operator is performing or has finished with. Further, itis also possible to determine which step in a plurality of work stepsthe operator is performing or has finished with by determining whetherthe feature quantities of environmental sounds input from the microphone148 correspond to the feature quantities of environmental sounds uniqueto each work step obtained beforehand.

The sight line detector 156 is provided in the center on the inner sideof the frame of the eyeglasses and directed to the user's face, and isconfigured to capture an image of the eyeballs of the user and detect aline of vision. Further, it is also possible to configure the sight linedetector 156 to detect the irises of the user. The gesture sensor 158 isa sensor configured to determine a gesture such as movements of thefingers. More specifically, the gesture sensor 158 is a sensorconfigured to determine the user's gesture by analyzing movements of thefingers made on the touchpad 55 provided in the projector 12 ormovements of the hands or the fingers shown in an image captured by thecamera 59. The vibrator 68 is configured to vibrate the temple of thewearable device 10 by vibrating the projector 12 and communicate certaininformation to the user. The position data receiver 159 is configured toreceive beacons including position data transmitted from a plurality ofthe position data transmitters 113 installed in the area of the LAN 102using a short-range wireless communication such as RF-ID. In the case ofa short-range wireless communication, the position of the transmitterand the position of the receiver (wearable device) can be estimated tobe substantially the same as each other. The GPS unit 155 is configuredto detect the position (x, y, z) of the wearable device 10. Bygeneralizing this result, the detection result of the position datareceiver 159 and the detection result of the photo detector 62 of FIG.3, the position of the user and the shift of the position can bedetected more accurately.

The display 30 is configured to display an instruction or an incomingcall from the supervisor's device 104 or the data management server 116,the work state of an operator detected by the motion sensor 154 and thelike. The display image is displayed on the screen 16 by the projectionprocessor 150.

It is possible to take an incoming call by using the microphone 148 andthe speaker 54.

The supervisor's device 104 may have a structure the same as that of thewearable device 10 or may have a structure the same as that of anordinary personal computer or tablet computer. The electricalconfiguration of an ordinary personal computer or tablet computer isequivalent to the electrical configuration of the wearable device 10except that the projection processor 150, the camera 59, the motionsensor 154, the sight line detector 156, the gesture sensor 158 and thelike are omitted. The position of the supervisor's device 104 isdetected by the GPS.

With reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B, an example of the apparatus statesensor 108 attached to the manufacturing apparatus 106 will be describedbelow. FIG. 8A shows attachment positions to the apparatus, while FIG.8B shows the structure of the sensor 108. Conventionally, each time aproblem occurs in a manufacturing apparatus, an operator checks theportion in the manufacturing apparatus having a problem and repairs theapparatus, and investigates the cause of the problem. Therefore, themaintenance time of the manufacturing apparatus (operation suspensiontime of the manufacturing apparatus) increases and this leads to adecrease in the productivity. In the present embodiment, the datamanagement server 116 automatically detects or recognizes the portion inthe manufacturing apparatus having a problem by collecting andintegrating the apparatus state data obtained from the apparatus statesensor 108 connected to the network 102. As a result, since the portionin the manufacturing apparatus having a problem can be automaticallydiagnosed, it is possible to significantly decrease the maintenance timeof the manufacturing apparatus (operation suspension time of themanufacturing apparatus) and thereby prevent a decrease in theproductivity.

The apparatus state sensor 108 includes an acceleration sensor 108 a anda wireless communication device 108 b and is configured to transmit anacceleration signal detected by the acceleration sensor 108 a to thedata management server 116 via the wireless communication device 108 band the network 102. The apparatus state sensor 108 is provided with anattachment portion or a fixing portion so that the apparatus statesensor 108 can be easily attached to an existing manufacturingapparatus. An adhesive layer may be formed on the attachment portion inadvance or an adhesive agent may be applied thereto at the time ofattachment. Alternatively, the apparatus state sensor 108 may beattached to an existing manufacturing apparatus by screwing the fixingportion into the manufacturing apparatus.

To realize the automatic diagnosis of a portion in a manufacturingapparatus having a problem, it is necessary to automatically collect theoperation state data of each unit of a manufacturing apparatus. In thecase of achieving the automatic diagnosis by buying or replacing with anew manufacturing apparatus, the cost increases significantly. However,in the present embodiment, it is possible to realize the automaticdiagnosis by simply attaching a sensor available at a significantly lowcost to each unit of an existing manufacturing apparatus. Therefore, itis possible to add the environment of the automatic problem diagnosisinexpensively while maintaining the environment of an existingapparatus.

As shown in FIG. 8A, the apparatus state sensor 108 is fixed, forexample, to a part of a moving belt 136, a movable arm 124 configured tohold products or a part of a movable shaft 132. Then, if a portion whichmoves in a normal operation stands still, it is determined that themovable portion has a problem.

The controller 118 in the data management server 116 stores handbooksfor repairing, maintaining and checking the respective portions ofvarious manufacturing apparatuses, namely, maintenance procedurehandbooks in advance, and makes an appropriate work checklist based on aresult of the above-described automatic diagnosis.

In FIGS. 8A and 8B, as an example of the apparatus state sensor 108, anacceleration detection method has been described. However, theabove-described method is in no way restrictive, and various physicalquantities or chemical quantities such as a temperature or a conductingcurrent value may also be used. Further, it is also possible to performthe automatic diagnosis of the portion in the manufacturing apparatushaving a problem by comparing images captured by a camera orenvironmental sounds collected by a microphone.

If a manufacturing apparatus having a problem is detected by the methoddescribed above with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B, the data managementserver 116 automatically selects an operator who is to performmaintenance of the manufacturing apparatus and displays maintenanceprocedure or a work checklist derived from the maintenance procedure onthe wearable device 10 of the operator. The data management server 116selects an operator, for example, (i) who is near the manufacturingapparatus having a problem, (ii) who can stop the work the operator iscurrently engaging with and (iii) who can perform the maintenance work.In this way, it is possible to minimize a time loss in dispatching anoperator to the manufacturing device having a problem.

As a method of most efficiently searching an operator near themanufacturing apparatus having a problem, in the present embodiment, aphoto detector 106 a similar to the photo detector 62 of FIG. 4 and awireless communication device 106 b are attached to a part of themanufacturing apparatus 106 as shown in FIG. 9. As described above withreference to FIGS. 5A-5K, the leaking light 50 radiating from thewearable device 10 includes the device ID data of the device 10.Therefore, if the data included in the leaking light 50 is detected bythe photo detector 106 a and transmitted to the data management server116 via the wireless communication device 106 b and the network 102, thedata management server 116 can recognize the wearable devices 10, thatis, the operators near the manufacturing apparatus having a problem. Thedata management server 116 selects an operator who is to performmaintenance of the target manufacturing apparatus based on the data andtransmits a work checklist to the wearable device 10 of the operator. Asshown in FIG. 13A, the work checklist is displayed on the screen 16 ofthe device 10. Note that, although the work checklist is simplified inFIG. 13A for the sake of convenience, the actual work checklist is asfollows.

Put the thing in the cart.

Close the valve.

Flick off the on/off switch.

Flick off the first light switch.

Flick off the second light switch.

As described above, since the leaking light 50 radiating from thewearable device 10 is detected, collected and summarized in real time,it is possible to identify an operator near the manufacturing apparatus106 subjected to maintenance easily and accurately. Consequently, itbecomes possible to save the time of dispatching an operator to theapparatus and reduce the maintenance time, and thereby prevent adecrease in the manufacturing efficiency.

Note that, as another method of recognizing operators near the targetmanufacturing apparatus, there is a method of using the camera 114provided near the manufacturing apparatus 106. An image sensor 114 a inthe camera 114 captures an image around the manufacturing apparatus 106and transmits the image data to the data management server 116 via awireless communication 114 b. The data management server 116 analyzesthe received image data and automatically identifies operators therein.

With reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B, an example of a case where anoperator performs work in accordance with a work checklist will bedescribed. If a work checklist of FIG. 13A is displayed on the screen16, an operator starts work. Here, if the whole checklist is displayedat a time, there are some cases where the letters in the checklistbecome too small to see. In that case, only first or first few steps maybe displayed by larger letters, and then the checklist may be updated aseach step ends by automatically recognizing the progress of work step bystep. The operator in the operation site of FIG. 10A puts a thing 162 ina cart 164, closes a valve 170 (or turns a handle 170 to a specifiedangle), flicks off an on/off switch 172, flick off a first light switch176 and a third light switch 180 according to the work checklist. In thepresent embodiment, the movements of the operator are automaticallyrecognized and identified in real time by the user movement sensor 110attached to the manufacturing apparatus 106 and the work completiontimes are automatically written in the work checklist (see FIG. 13B). Ifthe last work step ends, a work report is automatically made in the datamanagement server 116, and the contents are displayed on thesupervisor's device 104. The work checklist (FIG. 13B) corresponds tothe work checklist (FIG. 13A) containing the completion times inputthereto.

As a method of automatic recognition and identification of user'smovements by the user movement sensor 110, various detection techniquesand the combinations thereof may be used. For example, it is possible toperform automatic recognition and identification of user's movements byusing the camera 114 or 59 and analyzing an image of the user'smovements. Note that, in the method of analyzing an image of the user'smovements captured by the camera 114, depending on the situation, theuser's movements may be hidden behind in the image. Alternatively, it ispossible to use a sound recognition technique. If it is determined inadvance that the operator produces a specific sound as the operatorfinishes with the work of each item of the work checklist (maintenancework procedure) displayed on the wearable device 10, it is possible toperform automatic recognition and identification of the user's movementsby detecting an input of the specific sound with the microphone 148.Alternatively, it is also possible to perform automatic recognition andidentification of the user's movements by detecting environmental soundsproduced in specific work using the microphone 148 or a built-inmicrophone of the apparatus state sensor 108. Further, there is a methodof identifying a predetermined operator's gesture and thereby performingautomatic recognition and identification of operator's movements. As amethod of identifying an operator's gesture, images of operator'smovements captured by the cameras 59 and 114 may be analyzed ordetection results of the leaking light 50 of the wearable devices 10 bya plurality of the photo detectors 62 or the photo detectors 106 aattached to the manufacturing apparatuses 106 may be compared with eachother.

A pair of a light emitting device 166 a and a photo detector 166 b isprovided in an opening portion of the cart 164, and it is automaticallydetected that the thing 162 is put in or taken out of the cart 164 bydetecting the interception of light caused if the thing 162 passesthrough the opening portion of the cart 164. FIG. 10B shows the signalcharacteristics detected by the photo detector 166 b if the thing 162 isput in or taken out of the cart 164. The vertical axis shows the amountof light detected by the photo detector 166 b while the horizontal axisshows the time passed. If the thing 162 passes through the openingportion of the cart 164, the amount of light the photo detector 166 bdetects decreases. As a method of detecting that the thing 162 is put inor taken out of the cart 164, not the above-described method using lightbut various other methods may be used.

An example of the detection method which realizes the real-timeautomatic recognition and identification of movements other than theputting in or taking out of the thing such as the closing the valve, theflicking off the on/off switch and the flicking off the light switchwill be described below. In general, to perform maintenance(maintenance, checkups and repairs) of the manufacturing apparatus, theoperator needs to directly contact a predetermined portion in themanufacturing apparatus. By using this feature, in the presentembodiment, if it is detected that the operator contacts a predeterminedportion in the manufacturing apparatus, the detection result isreflected in the automatic recognition and identification of theoperator's movements. According to this method, it is possible toperform detection easily and perform automatic recognition andidentification with high accuracy. In the case of FIG. 10A, a contactsensor 168 is attached to the valve 170, and transparent contact sensorsare attached respectively to the on/off switch 172 and a light switchboard 174. The light switch board 174 includes the first, second andthird light switches 176, 178 and 180.

The contact sensor as an example of the user movement sensor 110includes a wireless communication function (for example, a short-rangewireless communication) and a detection function of detecting thecontact state of the operator. In the detection of the contact state,various elements configured to perform contact detection such as apiezoelectric element, a photo interrupter and an acceleration sensor(gyroscope sensor) can be used. The contact sensor of this type isattachable to existing facilities such as existing manufacturingapparatuses and is available at an extremely low cost. Therefore, it ispossible to add a short-range wireless communication network environmentinexpensively by simply attaching the contact sensor (user movementsensor 110) to an existing manufacturing apparatus while maintaining theexisting infrastructure.

An example of the user movement sensor 100 is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.FIG. 11 shows the user movement sensor 110 attached to an existinginfrastructure, namely, the on/off switch 172 or the user movementsensor 110 (contact sensor 168) attached to the valve 170, while FIG. 12shows the user movement sensor 110 attached to an existinginfrastructure, namely, the light switch board 174.

As shown in FIG. 11, the user movement sensor 110 includes an adhesivelayer 202 at the bottom, and further includes a control andcommunication circuit 204 and a solar cell 206 formed in this order onthe adhesive layer 202. On the solar cell 206, a transparent conductivelayer 208, a transparent intermediate layer 210, a transparentconductive layer 212 and a transparent uneven layer 214 are stacked oneafter another. The control and communication circuit 204 includes afunction of performing wireless communication (short-range wirelesscommunication) and a function of detecting contact with the operator.The circuit 204 is driven by the solar cell 206 to perform thesefunctions. In the case of using a battery as a power supply, there isthe trouble of battery replacement. Further, in the case of using anexternal power supply connected to a cable as a power supply, the cableblocks the operator from contacting. However, in the case of the solarcell 206, it is possible to drive the user movement sensor 110 for along period of time without giving the trouble of battery replacement orobstructing the operator from contacting.

By stacking the control and communication circuit 204 configured toperform a short-range wireless communication and execute control belowthe solar cell 206, it is possible to increase the power generationefficiency of the solar cell 206 and reduce the plane size of the usermovement sensor 110.

To use the solar cell 206, the solar cell 206 needs to be irradiatedwith surrounding light. Meanwhile, it is preferable that the portionconfigured to detect the user's contact is provided on the surface ofthe user movement sensor 110. As a method of satisfying both demands atthe same time, a capacitance type detection method is adopted and thecontact detection portion is made transparent. To detect the operator'scontact or pressure by using a change in capacitance, the followingstructure is adopted: the transparent intermediate layer 210 formed of atransparent and elastic material (for example, a transparent organicmaterial sheet) is sandwiched between the two transparent conductivelayers 208 and 212 (for example, transparent organic material sheets).By applying an alternating-current voltage 216 between the twotransparent conductive layers 208 and 212, the transparent conductivelayers 208 and 212 are resonated with each other. If the operatorcontacts the surface of the user movement sensor 110, a change occurs inthe capacitance, and consequently a change occurs in the above-describedAC resonance state. By detecting a change in the AC resonance state, theoperator's contact is detected. Note that this capacitance typedetection method may not necessarily be used but any element may be usedas long as the element allows at least a part of surrounding light toreach the solar cell 206 in the user movement sensor 110 and isconfigured to detect contact or pressure.

The transparent layer on the surface of the user movement sensor 110 is,for example, provided with small asperities. This functions as anon-slip surface, but it is possible to record information in Brailleusing the asperities for the sake of people with impaired vision.

As a method of fixing the user movement sensor 110 to a part of anexisting manufacturing apparatus, although various fixing methods suchas screwing may be adopted, it is possible to save space by directlybonding or attaching the sensor 110 thereto. As the bonding or attachingmethod, not only a method of directly bonding with an adhesive agent butalso a method of using an adhesive sheet or an adhesive tape may beused. The adhesive layer 202 having characteristics of a double-facedadhesive tape may be used for the on/off switch 172 and the light switchboard 174, and on the other hand, the adhesive layer 202 formed of atransparent adhesive layer may be used for the valve 170.

FIG. 12 shows the user movement sensor 110 attached to the light switchboard 174. In the light switch board 174, since letters such as light 1,light 2 and light 3 are written on the surfaces of the first, second andthird light switches 176, 178 and 180, it is preferable that theseletters be seen directly even if the user movement sensor 110 isattached. Therefore, the layers provided above the light switches 176,178 and 180 preferably be transparent. Further, it is necessary todetect the contact states of the plurality of light switches 176, 178and 180, respectively. Meanwhile, in the light switch board 174, thereis a space 182 left in a portion not provided with the light switches176, 178 and 180. To conform to such a situation, the user movementsensor 110 of FIG. 12 includes the transparent sheet 208, thetransparent intermediate layer 210, the transparent sheet 212 and thetransparent uneven layer 214 stacked in series on the adhesive layer202. The transparent sheets 208 and 212 correspond to the transparentconductive layers 208 and 212 of FIG. 11, and the transparent sheet 208includes three transparent conductive regions 208 a, 208 b and 208 c andthe transparent sheet 212 includes three transparent conductive regions212 a, 212 b and 212 c. The transparent conductive regions 208 a and 212a are provided in the positions corresponding to the first light switch176, the transparent conductive regions 208 b and 212 b are provided inthe positions corresponding to the second light switch 178, and thetransparent conductive regions 208 c and 212 c are provided in thepositions corresponding to the third light switch 180. The AC voltage216 is applied between the transparent sheets 208 and 212. By dividingthe transparent sheet into three regions corresponding to the threelight switches, it is possible to detect the contact states of the threelight switches, respectively. Braille information may also be formed onthe surface of the transparent uneven layer 214.

In a portion on the transparent uneven layer 214 corresponding to theleft space 182 not provided with the light switches, a control circuit204 a and a communication circuit 204 b are formed, and the solar cell206 is formed thereon. Since the solar cell 206 is provided on the top,the power generation efficiency is high. Further, since the controlcircuit 204 a, the communication circuit 204 b and the solar cell 206are located in the vertical direction, the plane size of the usermovement sensor 110 is reduced.

According to the embodiment, by detecting the states of wearable devicesand manufacturing apparatuses and displaying, based on the detectionresult, a workflow on the wearable device of an operator who is near amanufacturing apparatus requiring maintenance, checkups and repairs andwho can perform the maintenance work, it is possible to provide theoperator with useful information. Further, since completion of each stepof the work is determined and a work report recording the progress ofthe work is made automatically based on the detection result of thestates of the wearable device and the manufacturing apparatus, it ispossible to save the operator the troubles thereof. Note that, since thedetection of completion of work is realized simply by attaching acontact sensor to a manufacturing apparatus, it is possible to detectand recognize movements of the operator quite easily, inexpensively andaccurately without making modifications to an existing manufacturingapparatus.

The present embodiment describes the case of performing maintenance of amanufacturing apparatus. However, the present embodiment is notnecessarily limited to this case but may be applied to a case ofmonitoring user's movements corresponding to other purposes anddisplaying work contents according to the purposes. Further, the presentembodiment describes providing a contact sensor for monitoring theuser's movements in a portion which the user is likely to contact, butother sensors may be used instead.

Although the present embodiment describes the case of an eyeglasses-typewearable device, the present embodiment is also applicable tohead-mounted type wearable devices of other types such as goggles andhelmet types as well as to a wristband-type wearable device, apendant-type wearable device and the like. For example, in the case of ahelmet or goggles-type wearable device, since the projector 12 and thecamera 59 can be attached to the helmet or the goggles, people with eyeglasses can also use the wearable device. Further, in the case of ahelmet-type wearable device, since the speaker 54 can be attached to theinner side of the helmet, the user can hear a sound clearly, and since amicrophone can be attached to the helmet and the position of themicrophone can be adjusted, the sound collection performance of themicrophone improves.

As the sensors configured to detect the states of a wearable device anda manufacturing apparatus, various other sensors may be usedappropriately instead of the sensors described above.

The present embodiment is applicable to wearable devices other thanhead-mounted type wearable devices. The present embodiment is alsoapplicable to portable and light electronic devices carried with theusers at all times as notebook computers, tablet computers and smartphones.

As to the share of functions between the wearable device and the datamanagement server, the above description is in no way restrictive, butinstead, some of the above-described functions of the wearable devicemay be realized as those of the data management server or some of theabove-described functions of the data management server may be realizedas those of the wearable device.

The various modules of the systems described herein can be implementedas software applications, hardware and/or software modules, orcomponents on one or more computers, such as servers. While the variousmodules are illustrated separately, they may share some or all of thesame underlying logic or code.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described hereinmay be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodimentsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the spirit of theinventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wearable device configured to be attached to adisplay configured to display a display image, the wearable devicecomprising: an optical component set comprising a lens configured toform a visual image at a position which is a distance away from theuser, the visual image being formed from the display image; a first useroperable member configured to set an adjustment value relating to aprojection angle of the visual image; and a second user operable memberconfigured to set an adjustment value relating to at least one of acolor tone or a brightness of the visual image, wherein a position ofthe visual image is changed by adjusting the projection angle of thevisual image using the first user operable member so that the visualimage is displayed at a position based on at least one of a shape or asize of the head of the user, and at least one of the color tone or thebrightness of the visual image is changed using the second user operablemember.
 2. A system comprising: a server; and a wearable devicecommunicatively coupled to the server to receive a display image fromthe server, the wearable device configured to be attached to a displayconfigured to display the display image from the server, wherein thewearable device comprises: an optical component set comprising a lensconfigured to form a visual image at a position which is a distance awayfrom the user, the visual image being formed from the display image; afirst user operable member configured to set an adjustment valuerelating to a projection angle of the visual image; and a second useroperable member configured to set an adjustment value relating to atleast one of a color tone or a brightness of the visual image, wherein aposition of the visual image is changed by adjusting the projectionangle of the visual image using the first user operable member so thatthe visual image is displayed at a position according to at least one ofa shape or a size of the head, and at least one of the color tone or thebrightness of the visual image is changed using the second user operablemember.
 3. An image display method for a wearable device configured tobe attached to a display configured to display a display image, thewearable device comprising an optical component set comprising a lensconfigured to form a visual image from the display image, a first useroperable member configured to set an adjustment value relating to aprojection angle of the visual image, and a second user operable memberconfigured to set an adjustment value relating to at least one of acolor tone or a brightness of the visual image, the image display methodcomprising: displaying the display image by the display; forming thevisual image at a position which is a distance away from the user;changing a position of the visual image by adjusting the projectionangle of the visual image using the first user operable member so thatthe visual image is displayed at a position according to at least one ofa shape or a size of the head; and changing at least one of the colortone or the brightness of the visual image using the second useroperable member.